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Director of the Office of State Lands & Investments v. Merbanco6/6/2003
2001); 1935 Wyo. Sess. Laws ch. 76, § 4 codified at Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 36-1-111 (LexisNexis 2001). The later act allowed exchanges on a "value for value" basis after finding an exchange would:
(i) Make state lands more manageable where the lands are not otherwise manageable;
(ii) Meet a specific need of a school or community for land;
(iii) Better meet the multiple use objectives for the benefit of the trust; or
(iv) Realize a clear long term benefit to the trust which substantially exceeds the present and probable future benefit from continued ownership.
Section 36-1-111(a).
In this same time frame, the federal Taylor Grazing Act, Act of June 28, 1934, ch. 865, 48 Stat. 1269 (codified at 43 U.S.C. §§ 315-316 (1934)), was enacted setting forth an explicit process for the exchange of federal lands and demonstrating a similar agreement by the federal government to the concept of exchanges of lands with the states. This statute apparently prompted the Wyoming legislature to pursue a constitutional amendment specifically authorizing the state to accept title to lands owned by the federal government in exchange for state lands of equal value. Senate Joint Resolution No. 5, Feb. 18, 1935, 1935 Wyo. Sess. Laws at 208. The voters failed to approve that amendment by a small margin. Wyoming Official Directory and Election Returns (1931-39). The challengers argue that failed attempt to amend the constitution supports their position that the constitution prohibits exchanges without public auction. While it is an accepted rule of statutory construction that rejection of a proposal by a governmental body is an indication of its intent, the rule cannot be applied automatically without first examining the failed proposal and the context in which it arose. A careful examination of the failed 1935 amendment does not support the conclusion urged by the challengers.
The proposed amendment, by its own terms, was intended to facilitate exchanges authorized by the Taylor Grazing Act. Rejection of the amendment sheds little light on the constitution's pre-existing provisions governing the "sale" of school lands or exchanges for private lands. Furthermore, the state's continued practice of freely exchanging state lands for both private and federal lands of equal value undermines the suggestion that anyone questioned at the time whether such exchanges without public auction were constitutional. The state's position was later supported by an attorney general's opinion concluding that the constitutional term "disposal" was intended to mean "sale" and a public auction was not required for exchanges. Op. Att'y Gen. No. 110, Opinions of the Attorneys General of the State of Wyoming 624 (1953-1956).
Assuming the framers' only intent was to restrict the legislature's options with regard to the sale of school lands and not other aspects of managing that resource, the state retained its inherent police power to maximize the value of the school lands it was responsible for managing. This is so because, as has long been recognized, the legislature may enact any law not expressly or inferentially prohibited by the constitution. Witzenburger v. State ex rel. Wyoming Community Development Authority, 575 P.2d 1100 (Wyo. 1978).
The early history of the state's exercise of its authority over school lands is important to our efforts to give meaning to the words of the framers because it was contemporaneous with the adoption of the constitution and, therefore, likely reflective of the mindset of the framers. Rasmussen v. Baker, 7 Wyo. 117, 50 P. 819 (1897). It is also significant that the state's assumption of authority, by both the le
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